1. Field
The following description relates to a network technology, more particularly, to a network virtualization supporting method for implementing a virtual network in a physical network apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
PlanetLab, one conventional network virtualization supporting method, only supports the generation of software-based slices. On the other hand, Supercharging PlanetLab as an advanced form of PlanetLab only supports the generation of static hardware-based slices.
For example, PlanetLab develops a program to be run on a node, that is, a network apparatus, with a traditional C programming application programming interface (API) such as a socket. The developed program is statically uploaded on the node, and then a software-based virtualization slice is generated according to Layer 3 (L3) tunneling protocols.
Meanwhile, Supercharging PlanetLab generates a program at a level of a hardware-dependent or hardware-specific assembly language or machine language, and loads the program to a node, thereby running the program to generate a hardware-based virtualization slice. That is, the hardware-based slice generation method can generate the virtualization slice fast using the hardware-based fast packet forwarding method. However, to generate the virtualization slice, necessary codes should be programmed separately for individual pieces of hardware and statically loaded to a node such as a router.
Both of the above two conventional methods separately implement codes and statically upload the codes to a node, and thus they have the limitation that the codes cannot be installed in the node dynamically. For example, a software-based slice and a hardware-based slice cannot be selectively generated according to user characteristics, for example, depending on a business model, in a single node.